


Just a Story : Arc #1 - Komorebi

by BlueSapphire718



Series: Just a Story [1]
Category: Naruto, Original Work
Genre: Alternate Universe - Original, Multi, Original Naruto Universe, Original Universe, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-04
Updated: 2018-07-30
Packaged: 2019-06-04 22:16:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15156797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueSapphire718/pseuds/BlueSapphire718
Summary: They begin the story....From one perspective....Now, new graduates from the academy faces their sensei's new challenge and test to become the shinobi they all desire to be and dreamed of since they were young. The one lesson their sensei wants them to know together... What is it that is important in this test?And the story begins...From several perspectives.





	1. A Story's Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own ideas, concepts, jutsu, techniques or basically anything that originally belongs to the Naruto Universe. Some OCs and original ideas/concepts placed in this story does not belong to me.
> 
> I do, however, own most OCs and original ideas/concepts in this story.
> 
> Enjoy!

 

**ARC 01 – KOMOREBI**

**~ Chapter 1 – A Story’s Beginning ~**

 

_“We’re not kind, ya know. We’re just…. Human. We make mistakes, too. And we can’t blame it on anyone else but ourselves, until we make it right again.”_

 

 

“ _Kaa-san_!!” yells a young boy’s voice, making his mother wince from her knitting and turns around to see her impatient son at the doorway. He gives her an unimpressed look, and it reminds her of her husband, who did the exact same look when he was younger. She chuckles and places her knitting down to face him.

“Is there a problem, dear?” she asks softly, and he pouts cutely. Oh, how she would love to take a picture of him and show him to her husband. They’re exactly the same, most would say, and she agrees with them.

“I want a story!” he demands loudly, placing his hand on his hips in a mock position of anger. “And I don’t want any heroic story about _tou-san_!” he adds when she opens her mouth to say something. “I want something different than those stories!”

She pauses at his excited tone, and carefully weighs her options, before smiling. “Of course. Would you like to hear a story about shinobi who would dare to put their comrades above their missions? Enemies who weaves and dances through traps? A village who’s brave enough to dream about peace?”

His eyes widens at her description, and he looks delighted. “Tell me, tell me!” he begs, running over and sits down on floor with wide blue eyes in front of her.

“It’s a story,” she begins, captivating her young son’s mind as she begins to weave the tale, “about _Konohagakure no Sato_. And our story begins with Kuoni, the Kyuubi _Bijuu_.”

He tilts his head. “Isn’t it Kurama who’s the Kyuubi?” he asks in confusion, as that’s what he’s told from his father.

“No, no,” she scolds him gently, “remember, this is just a story, and Kuoni is the equivalent of Kurama. You see, Kuoni and his siblings, the other _Bijuu_ , had fought a _Kami_ named Tsukiyōmi during the Second Great Shinobi War and died. However, Kuoni, he was….”

 

* * *

 

Early.

Way too early for her liking.

Kyou’s eyebrow twitches as she surveys her surroundings with a dark aura that had already sent several future shinobi from her in a scurry. It isn’t that she likes to scare her classmates off, but what they’re currently doing was idiotic and chaotic.

Fangirling over some males are pure idiocy, especially when they’re this loud.

She doesn’t want to know if her future teammates will be this loud when operating a mission. Damn it, she should of been late today, but she just has to be early like a top student she is. Kyou glares at the next offending classmate who stops beside her, and he gives her a cold smile in return.

Uchiha Maemi, another high ranking student of the shinobi academy. One of the last few Uchiha alive, he seems to hate everyone and keeps a long distance away from other students. Kyou honestly doesn’t like him, but if he’s placed on her team, she’s expects him to keep up.

“Uzumaki,” Maemi greets lowly, a glint in his eyes that makes Kyou even more wary of him.

“Uchiha,” she greets back with the tone he picks for her personally. “I wish you luck with your team.”

Maemi doesn’t even faze, only narrowing his eyes more at her. Serves him right for picking to be next to her, she thinks viciously. “As do I,” he slowly replies, taking a seat next to her. She smiles bitterly, before slowly turning her gaze towards her classmates.

Several students freezes when they see her staring at them with an impassive look, before whispers spreads like wildfire. She snorts in amusement at their quick turns of their heads and their whispers, and settles back on her chair with a tiny smirk on her lips.

“You seem to like scaring them, Uzumaki,” Maemi observes, crossing his arms as he glances at her from the corner of his eyes.

Kyou returns his look with the quick twist of her head and narrowed eyes as she glowers at the boy. Why did Maemi picked fights with her, she didn’t know. “Refrain from the sentence of me scaring them; I just watch them.”

“For the daughter of the Yondaime Hokage, you’re quite the stalker,” he smoothly tells her, and she squashes down the feeling of strangling the Uchiha just so he could shut up and leave her alone. Kyou clamps her mouth shut in anger, refusing to answer to his whims, as the Uchiha smirks visibly at his success of shutting her up.

 _It seems that the Uchiha likes to play games with me_ , Kyou muses in her mindscape, narrowing her eyes at the boy beside her and glares, clenching her hand into a fist. _Oh, I’ll go along with his little whims now, and it’ll bite him in the ass later._

The door slides open, and several heads turn quickly towards the teacher who had entered the room. Kyou crosses her arms as Kinue-sensei stops at the desk in front of her and turns to face them, as she claps her hands to gain their attention.

“Alright, settle down!” she yells, slamming her hands on the said desk. Kinue gives a small smirk when they all finally pay attention to her, with Kyou narrowing her eyes at the woman who taught them throughout the years at the academy. “Congratulations to all you 18 students who passed!”

It’s frustrating to keep track of the woman's speech patterns, though Kyou is glad she didn’t have to stay here in this tiny classroom any longer. Being placed with idiots during her four years of the academy was depressing.

“–you’re all going to be placed in a team, so listen good,” Kinue continues, jolting Kyou out of her thoughts. Huh, she wasn’t paying attention to the previous words, was she? She shakes her thoughts away, as the woman in front of them reads out the team assignments.

“Team 7!” Kinue calls out. “Uchiha Maemi!”

The boy besides her scoffs, crossing his arms as he glares straight ahead of him with obsidian eyes. “Seriously? The team of misfortune?”

She couldn’t have agreed more.

“Ryūga Olivia!” A muffled, quiet gasp is heard from the back of the classroom, and Kyou has to turn her head to see who else is on Team 7. A emerald-haired girl had covered her mouth with both of her hands, cerulean eyes widening as the other girls murmurs their envy.

Kinue grins and looks towards Kyou, making violet eyes narrow in suspicion. Then, Kyou gaps when the sensei begins to snicker darkly at her, several heads turning to where their teacher was looking. Dear _Sennin_ , she wasn’t going to get picked to go with this team, is she–

“And Uzumaki Kyou!” Kinue finishes with a smirk.

She just has to jinx herself.

“Team 8! Inuzuka Okami!” A shout of joy is heard from the right side of the room, and Kyou doesn’t need to turn her head to see who it is. One of the loudest boys in the class, Okami has a knack of turning arguments into brawls, and Kyou hates to admit it, but the boy’s got talent.

“Hatake Kaito!” Okami stops shouting, before Kyou sees him shooting a glare at the boy in front of her, silver hair fluffing in the slight breeze in the classroom as dark grey eyes narrow back at Okami with a smoldering glint.

Screw the clan rivalries.

“And Uchiha Hisoka!”

A hand slamming down on the desk directly behind Kyou makes her groan and place her forehead on the wooden desk in front of her. “WHY DO I HAVE TO BE WITH THE HATAKE AND THE INUZUKA?!” the boy’s voice shrieks loudly.

Maemi snorts, turning to face his cousin’s ebony eyes. “Come on, Hisoka, we know you like the Uzumaki’s best friend. Have fun with him and the Inuzuka.”

 _No, no, no_ , Kyou’s mind shrills in anger in faint horror and disgust, _I did_ **_not_ ** _need to hear that_.

Kaito turns around, narrowing his eyes at the Uchiha beside her. Hissing with drips of venom in his voice. “Say that again, Uchiha, and I won’t hesitate to gut you with a kunai,” he threatens.

“Make me,” taunts Maemi, smirking.

“Quiet yourselves down, brats!” Kinue shouts over their bickering, and Kyou has to admit begrudging respect for her, about how their sensei dealt with them over the years she taught them. She continues without a regret when they all refuse to quiet down. “Team 9! Hyuuga Kouichi! Rokurō Lee!”

Kyou tunes her out, turning her gaze around the classroom with several shrieking in disgust at the Lee Clan’s heir, whose been placed with the Hyuuga in their class (he winces at their tone and Kyou can sympathize with him, but she wouldn’t admit it), before Kinue-sensei’s voice catches her again. “And Uzumaki Miyunae!”

….. Her cousin?

Her sensei continues to list out each team and individual

 _Make it worth our while, especially when the half Uzumaki is here_ , a thought hisses itself in her mind and she knows that she’s in for a rather long time, looking outside. Eyes narrow when she sees the Hokage Rock, and….

 

* * *

 

Soran has to imagine the expression her fellow jōnin is making as they make their way through the streets, but she can tell what he’s doing. His lips probably set in a tight line and his arms feels like they’re trembling by his side as he doesn’t say anything, but she knows him and smiles.

“Cheer up, Hatake,” she says, elbowing what seems like his ribs, earning a grunt from him, a smile seeming still playing around with her face. His chakra flares up a few times, white flashing through her eyes when it does. “You somehow got into the jōnin instructor election and got voted again. It’s not that bad.”

“That was last year,” Ryouta protests, and his chakra flares a little, settling down as if it’s a tiny fire in the woods when they set camp. Roaring quietly, flickering red and she likes the warmth it gives off when it’s like this, Ryouta’s chakra.

“And you failed the team you had last year,” Soran reminds him, placing her hands on her hips, and his chakra comes out in short bursts of surprise when she says this.

“......” His voice is barely a whisper when he replies back. “They weren’t ready. Especially with their thoughts and ideals when they got together.”

Soran doesn’t say anything yet, humming a tune under her breath as they walk. Spreading her senses, she feels civilians wandering to do their day to day workload, their physical chakra glowing rather bright red as they come pass her.

Civilians have rather different chakra than shinobi, their bright red chakra easily reflecting their emotions when conflicted. It reminds her of the day when she starts studying this, observing and recording, when she realizes all of this. She hums again, Ryouta still silent next to her.

Recognizes a familiar strong burst of chakra she remembers from her childhood and now, and Soran has to grin even more. “Did you know your lovely rival was picked to become a jōnin instructor, too?”

White chakra flickers in horror, as Ryouta seemingly stops beside her. She turns her face towards him and his chakra continues to move. “What? Chosen? Him?!”

“Yep!” Soran answers cheerfully.

“You do realize he’s going to traumatize all those future genin,” Ryouta’s bland tone says, before his chakra freezes and _moves_. She laughs. “And it’s not my fault if he decides to give those poor graduates orange jumpsuits–“

“MY ETERNAL RIVAL!!!!” a large voice booms out and Ryouta’s chakra is horrified, as if it’s searching for a way out, then stops. Comes out in tired flickers before a pathetic whimper makes a way to her ears. “HOW IS YOUR YOUTHFUL DAY???”

And Ryouta is choking out, “C-Can’t breath, Ai!”

Orange chakra flickers warmly before Ai’s voice is leaking out worry. “I apologize, my Youthful Eternal Rival, I did not realize that! If I do not understand, I will run 500 laps around Konoha!!”

“Don’t, you’ll miss greeting your new team,” Ryouta hisses, and a loud smack is heard and Ai’s chakra seems to be shining more? Oh, dear _Sennin_ , here they go again. “And where are you getting those sunrise genjutsu?”

“What genjutsu?” Ai’s voice sounds confused, and Soran’s pretty sure he doesn’t have a clue on what they’re talking about. “This is always our YOUTHFULNESS!!!!!”

“Stop screaming youthful, I swear–“

“YOUR SPRINGTIME OF YOUTH IS WONDERFUL, MY DEAR ETERNAL RIVAL!!!!!”

“..... Kill me.”

“That is very un-youthful, Eternal Rival, however, let us race to the school instead! If I lose, then I will do 3000 push-ups with one finger!!! Three, Two, One….”

Ryouta’s voice is flat, and his chakra is unamused, flickering rather slowly. “No. I’m not going to be seen as a–“

“GO!!!!!” Orange chakra races off and leaves the two behind, Soran turns her face towards the Hatake’s white chakra. Smiles and laughs as Ryouta groans with despair, but his chakra roars and waves around warmly as they continue their way.

Silence once again fills the air, only breaking when the chatter of the civilians circulates around with gossip and news. When multiple sources of red chakra explodes, moving around as if they are living bombs, she knows something is wrong as they speak.

But Soran doesn’t want to pry. Not yet, anyways.

She turns her head around, directly at the other’s chakra. One of his students is an heir, and she knows that he’s been worrying about it. Lifts her hand, asks, “Did you know that one of your students is….?”

“I know.” Ryouta doesn’t pause his steps, just keeps striding forward, leaving Soran to try and keep up with him. “And she’s a Clan Heir.”

A thought swiftly crosses her mind, and before she knows it, her mouth shapes an o, blurting it out. Covers her mouth with one of her hands, with Ryouta’s chakra stops for a few moments before flickering softly and slowly. “Excuse me?” he questions incredulously.

Maybe it wasn’t a good idea, after all. But it’ll be a good way to bribe him with a few things she has in mind in the future. “W-Well…. I bet you that you’ll fall in love with one of your students!”

 

* * *

 

Okami glares at the Hatake across from him, and he glares back, with the Uchiha frowning at them both in disappointment and utter confusion. If the Inuzuka remembers correctly, the Hatake Clan and the Inuzuka Clan were always rival clans, due to their summoning animals and _ninken_.

Dogs and wolves. Wolves and dogs. Both canine, yes, but still rivals.

Each clan saying they are more superior than the other, and Okami’s head throbs with pain from just thinking about it. Kuromani paces beside him, before barking a sharp noise, and the Hatake’s face scrunches in disdain. A small victory dances inside him and he smirks. Point for him.

“Keep your voice down, _ninken_ ,” Kaito snaps at his _ninken_ and Okami then feels a surge of fury at the Hatake’s tone directed to his partner. “I don’t need to hear barks being added on to this stupid room of noises. It’s giving me a headache.”

Kuromani barks for a few more moments, and Kaito’s lips twitches upside down. _You can’t make me!_ his dog barks. “My _ninken’s_ name is Kuromani, remember that!” Okami snaps at Kaito, crossing his arms.

“I will, because I don’t want a headache,” Kaito snaps at Kuromani. Facepalms himself and Okami remembers, the Hatake Clan knows the tongue of the dog well. Hisoka stares at them with a blank expression. “This room is loud enough. We don’t need to hear more of your barks.”

“How about you shut up instead?” Okami hisses and Kaito glares, and he feels death coming along. He opens his mouth to say something else, before an extremely loud voice screams.

“ _Dainamikku Entorī_!!!!!!!!!”

The door is kicked open and remaining students that are left in the room watches as the door flies through the air and cracks the window. Breaks it and falls and someone below screams with pain. Okami winces in sympathy. That’s gotta hurt, especially with the door and the glass shards.

“Okay,” Hisoka begins, and the two look at him. “Seriously, translate your dog language, because I don’t understand a single thing that you’re saying or arguing about, and my holy _Sennin_ , _what the hell is that thing?_ _It burns…..!_ ”

“..... It’s orange,” Kaito says in disbelief, as Okami turns to look and stares. Rubs his eyes just to make sure he isn’t seeing things and stares. “Black lines and _orange_. Who wears _orange_ when they’re _shinobi_?”

Okami shakes his head in astonishment. “Do I wanna know?”

Someone bangs their head on the desk behind him and he doesn’t want to turn around to see who did it, instead staring at the jōnin who’s wearing an orange spandex with black lines, a large grin on his face, his hand pointing his thumb up and….. Is that a sunrise or a sunset genjutsu behind him?

Dear _Sennin_ , _why_.

“YOSH, THESE STUDENTS HAVE THE SPRINGTIME OF YOUTH AND GLORY, FILLED WITH SUCH PASSION AND THE POWER OF YOUTH–“ Okami and Kaito slams their hands over their ears in an effort to keep their eardrums, thank you, while Hisoka backs away behind them very slowly.

“Ai, did you kick down the _door_?” a new voice asks in bewilderment, as a woman’s head peers in through the doorway and gaps at the broken window. Okami has to swallow a groan, because, who the hell is that person wearing an orange spandex and currently blinding them with light shining from his teeth and the person behind him?

Did he say that correctly? He rubs his eyes and looks again before closing them to prevent himself from going blind. He said it correctly. F–

“THIS IS WONDERFUL!!!!” the man yells excitedly, seemingly taking in the delights of terrified students staring at him in horror, and Okami can’t blame them. That, and there is one classmate who is staring at the man in admiration. Damn it, _why_. “THEY ALL LOOK LIKE THEY’VE BEEN THROUGH THE SPRINGTIMES OF YOUTH AND BACK–“

“Team 8!!!!” the woman calls out, interrupting the other jōnin. “Follow me! We can ignore the nutcase here while we escape the commotion!”

“Soran! That is very un-youthful–“

“I told you that he was going to traumatize all the students!” another man’s voice shouts, before another man pushes pass the woman, dark grey eyes flashing with panic. Silver hair is all the information Okami needs to know that the man is an Hatake. “Why didn’t you listen to me?!”

The woman beckons them with her hand hurriedly, gesturing them to hurry. In front of the classroom, Okami can see why now. The two men were now in a heated argument, prompting Kaito, Hisoka and him to look at each other.

“Okay, truce?” Okami asks, gesturing an arm towards the two men and holds out a hand in an offering of peace. “Because I don’t want get into that mess, especially if things heat up, if you get what I mean,” he adds when he sees Hisoka tilt his head to the side in confusion and blank eyes deprive of emotion.

Poor Kuromani lets out a bark of confusion. _Why are you making a truce with one of the Clan of the_ **_Ookami_** _?_

Kaito gives a skeptical look at him, then a slight glare to his partner, before taking his hand in a tight grip. “Fine. Let’s get out of here before _Anija_ and his apparent Eternal Rival gets out of control.”

He spins on his heels and turns to the door, sandals tapping the wooden floor lightly as he heads towards the woman, who grins sharply. Hisoka laughs nervously before he follows Kaito out, leaving Okami behind.

“Sorry, Kuromani,” Okami apologizes to his lifetime partner, “I know that they’re the Clan of _Ookami_ , but seriously, I do not want to get into _that_.”

Okami points towards the broken blackboard, which he’s sure that it wasn’t broken before, and sure enough, the orange spandex _jōnin_ is yelling and _was his feet going into the ground and cracking it?_

Maybe it is a good idea to get out right now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kaa-san - Mother or mom  
> Tou-san - Father or dad  
> Konohagakure no Sato - Village of the Leaf, Konoha  
> Bijuu - Tailed Beast  
> Kami - A Japanese term for "God" or the multiple spirits worshipped in Shintoism  
> Sennin - Sage  
> Ninken - The Dog Summons or the Inuzuka’s canine partners  
> Dainamikku Entorī! - Dynamic Entry!  
> Ookami - Wolf (Mostly wolf demons, but some assume it as just the animal wolf)  
> Anija - A Japanese term for “older brother” in the old days in Japan, especially for respect.  
> (Correct me on these terms if I’m wrong .-.)


	2. Chapter 2

**ARC 01 – KOMOREBI**

**~ Chapter 2 – Hope Dissolves ~**

_“They love, they hate, they suffer, they hope. Those are emotions of the humans that we guard, forever and beyond. Now, the emotions are changing, to something so more monstrous, that I cannot recognize them anymore.”_

  


Cerulean eyes blink as she stares around at her surroundings, before she accidentally bumps into someone in front of her, and she yelps in shock, instinctively stepping back as narrowed violet eyes turn to stare at her.

Kyou scowls, whipping back to walk forward, leaving Olivia to stare at her back in confusion. What did she do to earn Kyou’s hatred? Anger and confusion bubbles inside her, rises up, then subsiding back down when she feels a hand on her shoulder. She looks up to see Maemi smiling at her apologetically, and somehow, savagely.

“Don’t worry about her,” he told Olivia, a small smirk dancing upon his lips, and she raises an eyebrow delicately, shivers inwardly. “She hates it when we bother her like the scoundrel she is.”

“I heard that, Uchiha!” Kyou’s voice from afar yells at him.

“IT WAS MEANT TO BE HEARD!!!!” he hollers back, Olivia wincing at his tone. Slams her hands over her ears, and Maemi looks back at her. “Whoops, sorry about that!” he immediately apologizes.

“I-It’s fine,” she murmurs quietly. Steps away and she barely manages to straighten herself when she nearly trips over a rock. Olivia stumbles, but catches herself before Maemi can even help her. She’s a shinobi, she can help herself.

Determination flares inside of her as Olivia continues to walk, Maemi striving to catch up with her as they both walk through gates and into a grassy area with trees gently swaying to the breeze that sings through the leaves. Kyou and the silver-haired man sits underneath one, as the red-haired girl turns away and refuses to look at them in the eye when they come close to the pair.

Only Maemi bounces forward and sits next to her, whispering a phrase, before Kyou’s head snaps around to face him and she hisses something in return. Olivia hesitantly sits closer to their new sensei, and further from her new teammates. There is a chance with this team that she could find what she is looking for, and she isn’t losing it, not with her brother when he’s still an infant.

**_CLAP!_ **

A clap catches all of their attention.

“Well, then,” begins the silver-haired man, looking at them all with dark grey eyes flickering with an emotion hidden inside, she can’t tell what it is. She feels shivers going down her spine from it, watching him. Watches his eyes land on Kyou before away towards Maemi, then to her, but she knows that it landed on Kyou the longest.

“Why don’t we introduce ourselves to the team?” he continues, a sharp canine smile gracing his lips, and he’s looking like a predator with keen eyes observing them. “Green hair, go.”

She blinks in slight confusion, before realizing that he means her. Raises a hand in question, and asks, “H-How are we supposed to….?”

“Oh.” The silver-haired man seems to ponder for a few moments, before he begins again. “I’ll go first then. I am Hatake Ryouta, and my dream is to help all of you to become at least Chūnin. Now you go.”

Olivia gets this, at least. “M-My name is Ryūga Olivia, a-and my dream is to f-find someone from my clan.”

A frown makes its’ way towards Kyou’s mouth, with Maemi tilting his head in curiosity, as the silver-haired man, Ryouta, nods with a carefully blank expression on his face, before pointing to Maemi. “Your turn, kid,” he says, leaning back against the tree.

Maemi flashes a savage grin, before he starts. Olivia wonders why he would flash such a grin towards Kyou, making the other girl scowl at him in annoyance when he did so. “My name is Uchiha Maemi, and my dream is to become at least a **ANBU** _Taichou_!”

Ryouta nods again, this time looking impressed. “You might be able to become an **ANBU** , but it takes a lot of suppressing emotions,” he warns, and Kyou looks interested in this. Olivia is curious, why would **ANBU** suppress emotions? “Are you willing to take it?”

“Yes, sensei,” Maemi answers him, bobbing his head once, looking seriously as he continues with his answer. She never seen the Uchiha look this serious before. “I’m willing to.”

“Alright, then, red hair, go.”

Kyou gives Ryouta a glare, and Olivia doesn’t understand her frustration with the man. He’s their new sensei, after all, and he might be new to being a sensei. Maemi gives a light punch to her shoulders, which Kyou dodges by leaning to the side and allowing the fist to fly past her ear.

Olivia tilts her head at that, before Kyou speaks. “I am Uzumaki Kyou, and what my dream is, is highly confidential,” she states flatly, and everyone looks at her with blank stares.

 _Why is it highly confidential_ , Olivia wonders to herself, another swirl of curiosity fluttering in her stomach. _Is it something so private to her that no one should know?_

“Highly…. Confidential,” Ryouta slowly repeats, seemingly more to himself than to them. He mutters something that Olivia can’t hear, though Kyou’s eyes seem to sharpen at it, before straightening his back and looks at them. “Right. Tomorrow, bring all your supplies. We’ll be beginning a test.”

“A test?” Olivia echoes, trying to understand. Kyou simply narrows her eyes, as Maemi continues to stare off in confusion. Kinue-sensei never mentioned any test after their graduation. “What kind of test, sensei?”

He opens his mouth, before closing it, as if his words didn’t fit. “Survival,” he says instead, before pushing himself off the ground. Dark grey eyes narrow themselves at them, and Olivia sees something dark inside. “Be here at eight o’clock. I won’t tolerate lateness, understand?”

“Yes, sensei!” Olivia scrambles up, along with Kyou and Maemi, and proceeds to leave. Not before Maemi shouts a farewell and takes to the air to the rooftops, and she doesn’t see Kyou behind her. She peeks behind, and sees the girl talking to their new sensei.

Why would Kyou take a chance to talk to their new sensei? Olivia can’t see a reason why she would, either can she see the possibility of it. Perhaps maybe she’d find information about her clan?

“–my mother’s student?” came Kyou’s voice when Olivia sneaks to the trees and hides within them. She can’t see them, which is a good thing, because then they can’t see her. Then the question makes her pause. Kyou never mentioned her mother, not even during their academy days, avoiding any topic about it.

“I am,” comes Ryouta’s short reply, and it sounds tense. “Why are you asking this, Kyou?”

“Teach me how to use fūinjutsu.”

And Olivia nearly falls out of a tree from hearing that. _What?!_

 

 

* * *

  
  


“You want us to do what?!” Okami yells, jumping to his feet as Kuromani barks loudly beside him. Kaito’s head begins to swirl with a headache, but he forces it down, tilting his head in barely seen confusion as his teammates and him all stare at their new sensei.

Soran bares a savage grin, brown eyes looking at them with a cloudy glint in it, but Kaito can’t see any emotions in it. His hand twitches, barely reaching for a kunai in his pouch, but he refrains from it. Watches their new sensei carefully, and fingers a seal instead, nearly black eyes narrowing down.

“I said, eighteen people and six teams…..” Soran’s grin stretches wider, and Kaito can feel a shiver heading down his spine. “..... Have sixty-six percent of failing and heading back to the academy, which is why we’re having this survival test.”

“That’s kinda stupid,” Hisoka spits out, ebony black glaring at her. He crosses his arms, and anger flashes quickly through his eyes. “We pass a graduation test so we can become genin, and this is what we’re told?! To pass _another_ test?! Who’s stupid idea is this?! If I can recall, back then–“

Hisoka cuts himself off, as Okami and Soran looks at him in slight interest and irritation, but Kaito feels like he should know what Hisoka is talking about. What he’s saying makes sense, but why would Hisoka cut himself off–

A cough catches his attention, him diverting it towards Hisoka, who looks rather red. “A-Anyway! Why do we have to pass another test?!”

“To weed out the weak,” Soran replies flatly. “It’s fits, you know. That way, we can–“

“Oh, I get it now!” Okami shouts, eyes brimming with emotions so deep that Kaito can’t even tell _what_ it is or what they are, as he interrupts their sensei. “So basically, we have to pass this test to become _official_ genin? Is that right?”

“Inuzuka!” Hisoka slaps his hands on his face and slides it down, squeezing his face as if it’s some kind of plastic in frustration, but Kaito doesn’t really want to know, thank you. He wants to pass this so-called genin test that their sensei had just told them about and begin his plans. “She just said that!”

“My ears work fine, thanks,” the Inuzuka shoots back, crossing his arm and glares at the Uchiha with a deadly stare. If looks could kill, he’s sure that Hisoka would of been burnt by now. Kuromani barks, and Kaito tries to tune him out, but hears him anyway. _Yeah! His ears work fine!_ the puppy barks. “I clearly heard what she said!”

“You weren’t even paying attention!” By this point, Kaito thinks Hisoka’s shrieking can be heard all the way from _Kumogakure_ . Is that possible? He narrows his eyes at Hisoka, and immediately winces at the loud tone his voice produces. Dammit, the Uchiha’s louder than the jōnin who wears _orange_ . “You just _repeated_ what she just said!”

“And?! So?!”

“You just admitted it,” comes Hisoka’s shriek once more and Kaito’s mind finally snaps like a fragile twig, his fingers digging his nails into his palm, creating tiny streams of red fluttering down his hand.

“Shut. Up,” he hisses, making the two idiots spin their heads to look at him in shock, and Soran raises an eyebrow in clear interest in what Kaito is about to say. “I have no ongoing interest in hearing both of you squabble like chickens.”

Hisoka’s mouth drops open in shock, before he splutters in scrambled up words that he cannot hear (Kaito has no interest in figuring out what he’s trying to say, either), with Okami looking quite offended with his tiny mutt. “Excuse me?” the Inuzuka cries, flailing his arms comically. “ _Chickens_?! You compared us to _chickens_?!”

“You both sound like one,” he retorts back, dark grey eyes singling out Okami in a heated glare. A small flicker of what seems to be a wild storm howling inside him, as he faces his clan’s common rival, or in this case, a child of his clan’s rival.

“Oi, oi!” Hisoka cried out, shoving himself between the two. Kaito finds himself drawn towards Hisoka’s inky eyes as they meet each other’s gazes. He _knows_ that look, and he’s been imagining that look for years, ever since– “I don’t need you two to begin talking in dog language, because I don’t understand what the heck you’re saying, and either does Soran-sensei!”

“I have a summoning contract with monkeys,” she says breezily instead, ignoring Hisoka’s gaping look at her. _She didn’t even calm down the argument between the two idiots_ , Kaito scowls in his mind. _What is she thinking?!_

“No! Dogs! Monkeys can’t talk with dogs! Monkeys don’t even understand dogs, much less _Ninken_!”

“That’s offensive,” Okami objects. “Monkeys can talk to _Ninken_! Right, Kuromani?”

 _Right!_ Kuromani barks loudly, and Kaito thinks the sad fact is, is that Hisoka doesn’t even understand anything that the mutt speaks about, and gives him an entirely blank stare as Kaito heaves a sigh.

“No! Do you even understand logic?” Hisoka demands, eyebrow beginning to twitch with annoyance. “How can dogs understand monkeys? Like, I get the summons could understand, but _Ninken_? No! This is like the time Maemi thought that a cat could understand crows! Like, what the hell–“

Kaito doesn’t even bother to listen anymore. He closes his eyes, tilts his head up, and breathes when he remembers a fond–

  


_“What do you think you’re doing?” A black-haired man looks up at her, a small frown settling itself on his expression as he points to the map in hand. She takes a look at it and heaves a sigh in frustration. “Honestly, you were planning to put the hospital somewhere else, weren’t you?”_

_He gives a sheepish smile at her, raven eyes glimmering in an emotion she can’t name at all. A wild mystery he is, like the searing inferno that blazes through the battlefield when he fights. “I was thinking of putting it near the Academy,” he admits, laying down the map on his lap as he looks up at her. “But wouldn’t the students freak out at the sight of blood?”_

_“Then put the training grounds at least behind the school building,” she huffs, elegantly allowing herself to settle down beside him and plucks the map out of his grasp. She peers at it with an intent stare and tsks in displeasure. He’s made so many mistakes._

_“If the hospital is near by the Academy, shinobi and medics could be ready beforehand when someone launches an invasion, enabling the students to be protected easily,” she continues, ignoring his gapping look. “And if you put a clan compound near the hospital and the Academy, that’ll double up the defences when they’re evacuating the children.”_

_“Smart,” he comments, when she places a small mark on the map. She looks up at him, arching her eyebrow delicately and carefully. She had planned every single building and compound in this village, what made her just smart? The man raises his hands up. “Okay, okay, you’re the smartest.”_

_“Thank you,” she says simply._

_He laughs, a gentle sound of laughter that she finds herself enjoying. “Anytime.”_

  


“–to! Oi! Kaito!” Kaito feels someone shaking his shoulders, before he snaps open his eyes and finds himself staring into familiar ebony eyes. He blinks, before briefly surveying his area. Well, damn, he’s close. “Thank the _Sennin_ that you’re awake–“

Kaito responds with a fist to Hisoka’s nose, much to the chagrin of the young Uchiha’s _bleeding_ nose and Okami’s howling laughter.

“KAITO!!!!!! WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!” comes Hisoka’s scream, filled with pain. He’s holding his nose now, eyes flickering with shock and disbelief, a seep of red sliding down. Kaito finds that he doesn’t really care.

He responds with another fist instead, though.

Another scream of pain and a whoop of laughter.

This time, it feels good.

 

 

* * *

  
  


Just one small twitch, and Miyunae can’t handle it anymore.

Rōkurō bounces next to her, his excitement visible to the village as Kouichi bleakly stares at the…. Monstrosity of orange in front of them. She’s never going to find orange as a nice colour ever again. And she’s _wearing_ orange, too.

She heaves a small sigh, as they continue to walk, with Kouichi firmly keeping his gaze on the path before him. Honestly, if she’s told that she was going to be with the most quietest and the loudest boys, she’d be hightailing out of Konohagakure rather fast.

“YUSH!!!!” their new sensei cries out, and she and Kouichi flinches from the loud tone his voice produces, while Rōkurō stands up straighter, eager black eyes following their sensei’s very movement. “Please introduce your Youthful selves! We will spend a lifetime of Youth TOGETHER AND JOURNEY TO THE FARTHEST CORNERS OF OUR YOUTH!!!!!”

Miyunae’s hand is about to meet her forehead when….. Is that a genjutsu that she sees just behind Ai-sensei now?

Dammit, it is. F–

Can she dispel it? Miyunae forms the proper hand signs that are used to dispel a genjutsu, ruffles up her chakra around and murmurs, “ _Kai_.”, and nothing happens at all. Kouichi gives her a sideways glance, but she isn’t paying attention.

She does it again. “ _Kai_.”

“Miyunae- _chan_!” Ai all but shrieks out with excitement, and she looks up, startled. He grabs her hands and starts to shake it, and she’s forced to move along with it up and down. “Are you beginning your Youthful training now? That is wonderful news! I will do 100 push-ups, and 600 squats to accompany your YOUTHFULNESS!!!!”

“I question everything now!” she wails, once Ai lets go of her hands and his eyes shine with a sparkle. “Why didn’t anyone warn us that there’s a jōnin who somehow makes sunrise genjutsu out of nowhere and shouts youth every. Single. Time?!”

She pauses, and looks over to her sensei. He isn’t listening, too busy wailing with happiness at Rōkurō, who looks just as excited as him. Her hand meets her forehead and she groans, causing Kouichi to look over to her warily.

“I wouldn’t do anything,” he murmurs, causing the blond girl to look over to him and gap at him in disbelief. She never heard him _talk_ before! Okay, maybe he does talk, but she certainly never paid attention. “He came bursting into the Hyūga Clan’s compound and demanded that I’d be given to him as a student.”

“And that’s because of….?”

“The Hyūga Clan’s taijutsu styles.” The lavender-eyed boy gives a small whimper. “I was given as a sacrifice because of his….” A glance over at the now shouting duo, green and orange now mixed together as a sunrise genjutsu behind them.... How is that possible?! “... Enthusiasm.”

“I can see,” she says dryly.

“Hey, guys!” Miyunae and Kouichi look over to where Rōkurō is, the green-cladded boy waving his arm over at them to join him. “We’re going to introduce our Youthfulness to Ai-sensei!” he shouted, eyes gleaming with stars, and Miyunae nearly whimpers.

Nearly.

Panic immediately flings itself around in her stomach, and she nearly doubles over, but stands firm as she continues her way. Rōkurō continues to blab excitedly beside her, and Kouichi’s face scrunches up in distaste when he sees Ai.

Ai holds up a thumb, and a grin shines (literally) on his face as he proclaims, “We will do a test of Youth!”

“A test of _what_?!”

“Keep me out of this,” Kouichi immediately says, slowly backing away to hide behind Rōkurō, the other genin giving him a curious glance. “I want no part in it. No part in your youth, or the test, or anything that has to do with orange.”

Anything that has to do with orange. Disbelief flares inside of her. That, is _it_. They are going to _war_ , and no one is going to stop her, especially when someone insulted her favourite colour, even though she understands why he said it.

“Since when did you hate orange?” Miyunae demands, placing her hands on her hips. Tilts herself a little, would of flipped her hair if it wasn’t short, but she doesn’t care. It’s _war_. “Orange is great!”

Kouichi blaunches, as Rōkurō gaps at them. Shouts, “THIS IS AMAZING, YOUR SPRINGTIME OF YOUTH HAS REACHED FURTHER LEVELS OF YOUTHNESS–“

Well, now she knows who’s infected.

 

 

* * *

  
  


“ _Otou-sama_.”

A pause.

An inhale of breath.

And he turns to see his daughter, _her_ daughter. She places her hands in front of her and bows, dark eyes surveying their surroundings as she straightens herself. He sees a spark of flames circulating inside, hatred burning deep as he takes another breath. Too many things to say to this child, when she is a daughter of his wife, yet not his.

“Come in,” he says instead, tilting his head to indicate to the chair inside. A step inside echoes along the room with a thud, before she sits where he’s telling her to sit, folding her hands across her lap in an elegant fashion. “What do you want?”

“I wish to ask why no one told me my half-brother has became a genin today, nor tell me that our oldest brother has become a sensei to a team.” Dark grey eyes held her in its’ gaze, before he casts it outside the window. The moon seems to be hissing with warning as tension continues to unfold.

“What are you going to gain with this knowledge?” he asks, slowly piercing her with his dark gaze as he takes a step, and another one closer. “When we tell each other everything in this pack, this clan, this family that we share?”

Her gaze sharpens with a flicker of deep loathing. “This is not my family. This is just a clan where my mother came from.”

“We are your clan, your blood, your family.” His own gaze catches hers in a deadly stare, as he carefully chooses his next words in this dangerous game that he’s playing with the outsider’s child of his clan. But she’s family, his sons’ half-sister, even if they didn’t know it.

“You’re only related by half blood, but you worth nothing to me!” she spits at him, suddenly slamming her fist on the table in front of her. A jolt of shock courses through him when he hears this, before he watches her eyes widen in surprise as she covers her mouth quickly with her hand.

Never has he heard her shout at him like this, nor has he seen her bolt out of a room so quickly. A sigh of worried relief, and he steps away from the darkness of the room towards the window.

A swirl of emotions echo inside of him as he quietly questions himself. His wife would of never wanted this, but yet, he can’t help it. The clan, _his_ clan, treats her daughter as an outsider, because, they question her loyalty. Her fierceness and her quiet self had placed his fellow pack members in a mess of confusion and a test of loyalty; should they feel sympathetic to their lady’s daughter or to the clan’s best interest in making themselves strong in others’ eyes?

To the point that they would flinch when they see her. _Outsider_ , they whisper in their compound when she walks pass them. And he can’t see that. He sees a strong member of their clan, who questions every decision he makes, that he reconsiders again to make sure.

Someone who tells him in a flat manner that he and his fellow clan members are wrong. Someone who’s so dedicated to her goal, that she ignores everything else. And she’s exactly like her mother, who’s fierce and wild in her own way, biting into everything the Clan Elders have put up.

Tilts his head towards the beams of moonlight, allows himself to bathe in it. He’s going to have to change–

A pause.

An inhale of breath.

And he turns towards the window, to the moon, to their _ookami_ summons’ main object for their _Kami_ , and whispers a few words. It’s not much, just a few words with a question hidden underneath, and he feels ancient, old, and as if he doesn’t have much longer to live.

Turns to leave the door, and slams it shut behind him, as his words echo in the distant air, the moonlight dancing on the floor with a sudden chill and silence.

“Oh, Yomi… If only you were here now to see our clan.”

 

_If you were still here, would you change opinions of many instead of few in this clan of ours?_

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter done! I'm probably gonna be publishing these chapters once a month, because they take so long to prepare and write and I seriously want to focus on my other works. Huge shoutout to AshtonHatake (from Wattpad) for being my main beta-reader! Huge thanks, bud!
> 
>  
> 
> Terms:  
> Taichou - Captain  
> Kumogakure - Kumo or Cloud Village  
> Ninken - Dog summons  
> Sennin - Sage  
> Konohagakure - Konoha or Leaf Village  
> Kai - The word used to dispel a genjutsu (completed with a hand sign/seal)  
> Otou-sama - Formal saying for father  
> Kami - The Japanese term for spirits or gods in Shintoism
> 
>  
> 
> Again, most characters listed in here is not mine.
> 
>  
> 
> Read, review and enjoy!

**Author's Note:**

> Check out these guys!  
> TokutomiC4 - Uchiha Maemi (Maemi Uchiha)  
> weeksjmj29 - Ryūga Olivia (Olivia Ryūga)  
> AshtonHatake - Inuzuka Okami (Okami Inuzuka)  
> KonohaMadman - Rōkuro Lee  
> Miyunae_Uzumaki - Uzumaki Miyunae (Miyunae Uzumaki)  
> gunslingahhh - Maito Ai (Might Ai)


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